Symphony No. 5: "AD 3104 - The Orchestra for Titan"
I humbly submit the final audio draft of a symphonic piece i've been composing for over 3 decades. Actually i've collected various themes and chord progressions that i knew i would assemble one day, and this started in 1987. I actually sat down with MuseScore 3 a few weeks ago and put it all together with nothing but the musical annotations i've collected over the years.
The main reason it took so long to compose is because i have always composed the old-fashioned way: pencil-and-paper. This makes it laborious, and even more tedious if i can't hear what i'm doing. This is where Musescore 3 stepped in!
With MuseScore 3.6, i was finally able to QUICKLY assemble my themes, copy and paste, transpose, and hear immediately how my musical ideas were forming and blending. By FAR the biggest step in this process for me was finally the creation of volume (velocity) modification mid-note with any instrument. The upgrade of the crescendos and decrescendos made it easy for me to do EXACTLY what i wanted to do with the instruments.
This link is to the mp3 rendering of the symphony (34 MB!), and was created with the default soundfont shipped with 3.6.2 (MuseScore_General.sf2). The reverb module is also onboard (Zita1), and while these modules are both good, there still not great (the rolling cymbal is sub-par), and yet they're good enough to be able to compose my symphonic score and get a very good rendition of it.
If anyone of you are interested in the full MS score, let your comments be known here; i'm still working on the final layout for that. I'm not open to constructive criticism on the musical content (it has been constructed exactly how i envisioned it), but i am open to a critique of the score (when i upload it).
The Vision of AD 3104
Over the next several centuries, Mankind wil have built manned space stations that watch over various planets and moons in our solar system. They will be 'cities' for all intents and purposes, and will have what you would find in any city, including fine arts. This piece would be the symphony created by a composer on the orbiting station over Titan, Saturn's most promising and dynamic moon. In the future, symphonic works will be far different: the acoustic violins and cellos, flutes and trumpets, etc. will be replaced by electronic versions of these, with futuristic construction and onboard effects. This fictional composer decides to write a piece in the 'classical' style, using the obsolete acoustic instruments, but combined with their contemporary symphonic instruments -- an electric bass and kick drum, just to keep things 'modern.' He will actually employ a real choir singing wordless tones, and bring everyone together for this old-world performance.
His composition actually describes the world he lives in, the vastness (and emptiness) of space, the constant view of Saturn and his mighty rings, and the grandeur of humankind in its efforts to colonize the solar system (expressed mainly in the final movement).
Movements
I. 0:00 Overture (3:46)
II. 3:46 Voyager Theme (1:53)
III. 5:39 Loneliness Theme (1:30)
IV. 7:09 Theme of the Rings (3:10)
V. 10:19 Days of Occlusion (1:51)
VI. 12:10 Theme of the Dark Wind (1:57)
VII. 14:07 The Expansion of Man's Dominion (3:37)